Afterwards
by Coughie
Summary: People who were close to Max deal with her recaptured by Manticore
1. Logan

Logan return to his apartment alone

Afterwards

Logan return to his apartment alone.He just wanted to be alone. He looked around and everything reminded him of Max.

The window she had broken into when they first met:__

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_"You're a thief?"Logan said stunned._

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_"Girl's got to make a living." Max replied._

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_"Thank God."_

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_"First time I ever heard that one."_

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_"I was expecting someone else."_

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_"Guess it wasn't the pizza delivery guy."_

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_"We're just a little tense right now."_

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_Logan notices the item Max was stealing_

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_"You have good taste. French, 1920s, a tribute to Chitarus."_

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_"Whoever that is."_

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_"Oh. So... What, you liked it 'cause it was shiny?"_

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_"No, because it's the Egyptian goddess Bast, the goddess who comprehends all goddesses, eye of Ra, protector, avenger, destroyer...giver of life who lives forever. "_

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_Peter comes in._

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_"Stay back, Peter. Security's on the way."_

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_"I'd love to hang and discuss art, but I got to jet. By the way, I love your show."_

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_"Building security!" yelled a security guard_

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_Logan stops them "Hold your fire!"_

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_Max dives out the window and successfully escapes as Logan watches._

The table where they had dinner almost every night:

_Hiya. Logan greeted._

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_"You paged me?"_

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_"I thought you might want to join me for dinner."_

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_"I don't want to put you to any trouble."_

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_" Well, it's nothing fancy. Just one of my run-of-the-mill spur-of-the-moment culinary miracles"_

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_"I'm not real hungry. Feeling kind of punk"_

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_"Ah...a glass of pre-pulse Tokay Pinot Gris'll cure what ails you."_

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_The lights go out._

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_"Now you have to stay because even you shouldn't be wandering around out there during a brownout."_

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_"I've got a wicked headache as it is."_

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_"You know, there was a time when this city actually worked... _

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_"Or so they say. What were you doing when the pulse hit?"_

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_"On my uncle's yacht motoring into Friday Harbor on Orca's Island with a lady friend. _

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_" Why does that not surprise me?"_

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_"I knew the end of the world was coming when the Sat-Nav crashed and, uh, we ran aground. How about you?"_

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_"Hiding under the stairs. I was staying with this foster family. There were two of us - me and this girl Lucy. She was older. Her dad was a drunk. He'd smack us around pretty good. He was watching a game, and when the TV went off because of the pulse.He came looking for someone to blame it on. _

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"It's hard to imagine a genetically enhanced killing machine like yourself putting up with that."

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_"I was trying to fit in, you know? Act like a normal kid. Global chaos seemed as good a reason as any to bail on a bad situation, so I did."_

The couch where he helped Max through one of her seizures:

_"Every once in a while, I hit a rough patch. Usually the Tryptophan helps, but...these seizures are much stronger than usual."_

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_"Should I call a doctor?"_

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_" What are you going to tell him? That your genetically engineered friend has a design flaw in her brain chemistry"_

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_"That stuff really helps?"_

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"Supplements the serotonin that my brain's supposed to make but doesn't. When the levels are low, I have a seizure. I'm supposed to be a revved-up girl. Truth is, I'm a lemon."

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_"I don't know about that."_

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_Max starts shaking uncontrollably._

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_" What can I do?"_

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_"Stay with me, please?"_

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_"I'm right here."_

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_"You won't leave?"_

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_"I'm not going anywhere."_

The kitchen where Max discovered that Logan forgot to put the oven on:

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_"Dinner." Logan announced._

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_Logan gets the chicken. Heopens the oven door and gasps._

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_"Oh, no."_

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_Max walks over to see an uncooked chicken._

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_"Chicken tartare?" Max smiles._

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_Logan and Max both laugh._

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_"That's so wrong." Logan smiles._

His life is gone to feel so empty without Max.He knows Max could be alive some where.He decided go to the Space Needle and think.

**_Scenes from Pilot, Flushed, and Kidz are Aiight are property of FOX_**


	2. Krit and Syl Go To Jam Pony

At Jam Pony, the next day, Krit and Syl came in.They had to make up a story for Max's absence for the city.Krit went up to Sketchy. "Do you know where I can find the owner of this place?"

"Behind the counter." Sketchy answered.

"Thanks."

Krit and Syl head towards the counter.Herbal and Cindy were there showing this clipboards from their last run.

"Hello." Syl greeted."Are you the owner of this place."

"Yeah, so." Normal grumbled.

"We are good friend of Max," Krit began."We are here to explain her absence."

"Why can't she do it herself?" complained Normal. "You can tell her, if she is not here tomorrow, she fired."

"She won't be here for a while." Syl continued."Max is seriously hurt and in the hospital."

"What hospital is she in?" Herbal asked."We have to go visit her."

"I am sorry but only family can visit her." Krit told them.

Krit and Syl began to leave.Once they were outside, Original Cindy stopped them. "I want the truth."

"That is the truth." Syl replied.

"Know Max well." Cindy interrupted."She never steps foot in a hospital for medical treatment because of her condition and some people wants her dead."

"You know?" said Syl confused.

"Max told me about the black helicopter boys."Cindy told them."Now tell me what really happen."

Cindy took them to her apartment so they can talk in private.Krit and Syl told Cindy what happened at the Manticore base.

"When did Max tell you about Manticore." Krit asked.

"After I saved her life." Cindy answered.


	3. Lydecker

In a bar outside of Seattle, Lydecker was drinking while remembering Max and Zack.Lydecker wanted to get her out just as much as Logan.He knew Manticore was the only way to save her.It was hard enough for him to blow the DNA lab, which held the DNA of all the X5s, but it was harder to see Max die.

Lydecker still haven't gotten over the deaths of his wife, Jack, Eva, Ben, Tinga, and his other "children" to Manticore.

He didn't want to kill Eva.The pressure from what was happening around him made him do it.He knew Max killed Ben, so he would kill others anymore or return to Manticore and end up like the X2s. Madam X caused the death of the others.

Lydecker remembered when Max and him talked at the genetic conference:

_"Oh. I see. Is this your area of specialty, genetics?" she said._

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_"I've done some work in the field._

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_"Really?"_

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_"With children... Gifted children."_

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_"How gratifying."_

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_"I guide them as best I can. But mostly, I provide a framework in which they can flourish."_

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_"Must be a challenge."_

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_"Oh, it is. You know, it's always the highly intelligent ones who most lack discipline."_

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_"Maybe they figure they're smart enough to think for themselves."_

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_"Ah, they're still children. They don't always act in their own best interest."_

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They talked again when she and Zack captured him thinking he got Brin.Max stayed with him because she knew Zack will kill him of he was left with Lydecker.

_"How severe are they? The seizures, I mean."_

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_"Bad sometimes."_

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_"We have treatments now, you know."_

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_"Do you make house calls, or should I go to Manticore for my meds?"_

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_"Would it really be as bad as all that?"_

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_"How can you even ask me that? You tortured us, beat us down."_

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_"You were in training to become a soldier. _

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_"We were children."_

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_"And you're remembering it through a child's eyes."_

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_"I remember Eva dead on the floor shot by the gun in your hand. "_

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_"You'll never know how much it pained me to have to do that."_

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_"Spare me."_

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_"It was the best of you that ran away that night."_

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_"Yeah, well, we wanted to start a rock band."_

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_"Do you want to spend your life running?"_

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_"What I do."_

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_"Well, you don't have to, you know. You can always come home."_

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_"Get it through your head--I'd rather die than go back there."_

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Now Madam X had Max and Zack and hoped they were alive.He hoped they would resist the reprogramming and escape Manticore again.

**_Scenes from Prodigy and Cold Comfort are property ofFOX._**


End file.
